About me

Embroideries from the mythological prehistoric time

Teresa Oscarsson

I "paint" with cross stitching. For me the images, material and colors are more important than the technique.
Wool is my favorite material. I like the thought that my yarn once belonged to a little sheep somewhere in the world. Animals fascinate me. The swarming lives of insects in my garden are as fascinating as the big, dark sky in nighttime. I often see animals in people as well as human traits in animals. In the primeval distant past where myths take place the existence was boundless. My mind likes to dwell there.
My embroideries are inspired by three major interests. Animals are thus one. Another is America. The history of this continent fascinates me and I love the American landscape and nature. Once, in Montana, I met a grizzly with cubs. On horse! That is, I was on a horse, not the grizzly.
Myths and legends also interest me a lot. After working for a lot of years at the Ethnographical Museum in Stockholm my head is full of stories from the dawn of mankind. I see the myths as pictures of eternal dreams and questions that we all share. We are trying to get this chaotic world into shape. I all times and everywhere.
I have always been creative. I have painted, designed, etched and drawn but it took me nearly fifty years to find my very own expressive art form. That it turned out to be something textile surprised many people that know me, and my self too.

Me and Eva Lena in younger days

Once when I was just a little girl my fingers got stuck in my grandmas sewing machine. You can still see the damage that was done to my right hand. I did what I could to avoid sewing class in school.
At twenty I wanted to be an artist and went to art school. But the artist life was not to be, then.
I travelled, took interesting courses at the university. I worked, married and had a son. A few years later I started study anthropology and got a job at the museum as a teacher.
Then I started embroidering. In 2002 I sent five pieces of work to the Liljevalchs art hall. They were all approved and I sold three of them. In spring 2003 I received a big grant from the city of Stockholm. Then I quit my work at the museum to devote all my inspiration and time to a life as an artist.
It is a wonderful feeling to bring something to an end, like an embroidering. Just like in the creation myths. It begins with just a thought, a word, a dream or a picture. Then slowly, slowly something evolves. I really like the slow process in cross-stitching. I think most other things moves too fast for me.